Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Well once again this should come as no surprise. The current uproar and charge over climate change involving hacked emails from the University of East Anglia is being led by a well funded conglomerate of American right-wing think tanks, whose purpose is to confuse, feed lies and misinformation, and champion delaying the curbing of climate change. This campaign has been ongoing for well over a decade, since the ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, orchestrated by the free-market worshipping right-wing think tanks (who previously championed the Iraq War and got everything wrong), who trot out so-called "experts" who not only question but attempt to debunk or play down the scientific evidence of climate change. Their purpose is to attempt to place doubt into the public's and government's perception and understanding of the issue, and delay as long as possible the introduction and implementation of clean, green home grown, renewable energy sources.

So, why are right-wing think tanks doing this? They're conducting this despicable and immoral campaign because they have deep ties and receive financial support from the fossil fuel industry. The following outlines some of the right-wing think tanks involved and their sources of funding:

• Media Research Center: operated by Brett Bozell, this organization also runs the popular right-wing blog Newsbusters.org. Since 1998, the Media Research Center has received over $257,000 from ExxonMobil.